The end of an island

March 28

Furneaux Lodge to Ship Cove!! (and then to Picton)

KM 1714

Distance: 16km 

Elevation: ascent 621m, descent 625m

Steps: 27,800

Time: 8:55am - 12:50pm

Significant milestones today, as well as a plethora of emotions as we reached Ship Cove, the end of the South Island section of the TA for us.

Firstly though, the end of the South Island! Here we are at the Ship Cove jetty as proof. Check out those toned walking legs.

Compared to 3 months ago, sweet summer children that we were, with no idea what we were about to encounter.

Some more statistics though! (What's the definition of a statistician? A person who wanted to be an accountant but didn't have the personality :-) Love and respect to all the accountants and statisticians out there). We have completed 1,306km since we started in Bluff on January 1. According to hurriedly acquired data we have ascended 36,020m, and because we started 7m above mean sea level and finished at sea level, descended 36,027m. It's taken us 89 days, a little longer than we had scheduled, but what an experience! Many people choose to do only the South Island section, and we don't blame them. It's nearly a complete NZ tramping/hiking experience. 

The water taxi was 30 min late to pick us up due to a busy schedule. The trip took two hours in total and we got to see much more of the Marlborough Sounds because of the extra stop-offs the water taxi made. Before our pick up, however, we made time to visit the waterfall at the cove. 

A bunch of emotions were going through our heads as we walked today and got closer to the end. Earlier we had farewelled Linsey and her sisters.

Linsey has been a constant for about two months now and an overflowing font of positivity, humour and energy. I don't know how we'll manage the North Island without all of that. We are naturally elated and very proud of having walked the length of the South Island. We had no idea if we could walk 1,306km but we have and we feel great! The North Island brings new challenges with lots of road walking. There are also very few TA walkers on the trail now so we will have less insight from SOBO walkers who have walked where we we will walk, and likely no NOBO walkers to 'bump into' along the way. 

We also met two very strong personalities today. 

The first was along the trail, someone hiking the Queen Charlotte with a group of about 6 people. We were stopped at an overlook that had some signage, and he strode up asking (no-one in particular) whether the signs had information about "that plant that we've been seeing"; and then answering his own question that "no, nothing here." Eliza asked what type of plant, and he described a vine with a red flower not unlike a pohutukawa. Eliza and Vaughan both answered "it's a rata." The man responded with great confidence "no, it can't be a rata. I've used rata wood for burning and it's a tree." Apparently he in all of his confidence had never encountered a plant that starts as a vine and grows into a tree. Even when Eliza noted that either the Northern or Southern Rata has this lifecycle, he confidently denied this could be the case. (We looked it up later. The vine they were referring to is a rata.) (Eliza had four days ago listened to a long podcast about how "tree" is more of a verb than a noun; it is a strategy chosen by some plants. You can listen to S5 E11 of Completely Arbortrary for the full explanation.)

The second personality is the hostess at the backpackers in Picton. She is an absolute explosion of energy, enthusiasm, and goodwill towards humanity. Her expression upon hearing Eliza's full name was a priceless "No, way, REALLY?!" She then, with no prompting except our response that yes we are TA walkers, gave us an unasked for discount on our room for the night. She also put out home-baked desserts for everyone in the backpackers, as she apparently does every night. It's the Atlantis, for anyone travelling this way, and we definitely recommend the experience :)